


Braving It Together

by TheAuthorGod



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Charlie is a code and curse breaker, Christmas, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gryffindor Jo, Jo just wants to be a quidditch star, M/M, Magical Tattoos, Moving Tattoo(s), Ravenclaw Charlie, Ravenclaw Sam, Tattoos, TheAuthorGod
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 21:51:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5514596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAuthorGod/pseuds/TheAuthorGod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ravenclaws get caught up in their own heads and Gryffindors are too brave for their own good.  After many years of 'figuring it out', Charlie and Jo figure out how to balance it between the both of them, braving to together.</p><p>Written for the prompt: "something wintery (eg christmas, snow)"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Braving It Together

**Author's Note:**

> UNEDIT'D. UNBETA'D. UNPROOF'D. Story is mine; characters are not.
> 
> First femslash that I've EVER written, so I hope you enjoy...

\---  
  
June First Year  
  
\---  
  
At the train station, Jo waved to her mother and her mother’s boyfriend of many, many years. Before she ran off, she elbowed her friend in the ribs. “Hey, don’t forget about me over the summer.”  
  
“I don’t think you’re easily forgotten,” the Ravenclaw replied. She tucked her red hair behind her ear and sniffed. She’d had cried most of the train ride. Hogwarts felt more like home than home did and she didn’t want to leave.  
  
Jo pulled Charlie into another hug. “Just remember, you’re good; I’m good. We got this okay? We’re braving it together.” She offered a small smile.  
  
Nodding, Charlie swallowed the forming lump in her throat and forced herself not to cry. Home was where she was constantly reminded that her parents were gone. It wasn’t her favorite place to be. Receiving the cryptic letter in the post had set off Frank’s paranoia and he’d almost not let her go. Charlie was almost regretting the decision; if she’d never gone, then she’d have never loved being there so much.  
  
Squeezing her shoulders firm, Jo whispered. “I’ll ask my parents if you can come over next Christmas and next summer and all the times when you’d usually have to go home. How about that?”  
  
Charlie smiled a little.  
  
“That’s it.” Jo tapped her on the forward. “Don’t think about everything too much. I’ll be brave for both of us.” She puffed out her chest and put on a fake, serious scowl.  
  
That made Charlie laugh, but she believed her.  
  
\---  
  
September Second Year  
  
\---  
  
They had just returned to school and Charlie’s nose was already stuffed into a book, but that wasn’t new. What was different about the sight was that she had a fluffy orange cat sitting on her shoulder. If you walked on the opposite side of her, you may even think that her hair was just a bit frizzy.  
  
Loud foots steps rumbled down the hall, it spooked the ghosts who were minding their own business for a change. “I can’t believe that I lost it already!”  
  
Charlie rolled her eyes before landing them on the same word that they had originally left. She knew who it was. That was Jo Harvelle, storming down the halls looking for the cat that her step father had gifted to her. Little did the Gryffindor understand, Charlie seemed to be a homing beacon for the darn thing.  
  
If they were all seated somewhere, she, Jo, and Sam, the cat would gravitate to one of the Ravenclaws because they tended to sit stiller and not randomly pick her up and scrub over her fur.  
  
Sometimes, Sam and Charlie swore that Bobby sent the cat more for Sam than for Jo. A Ravenclaw himself, Bobby probably knew exactly how the whole of this would pan out from the very get-go.  
  
Jo ran past Charlie, fast enough that Charlie’s robes fluttered in the backwind. She sighed loudly and lifted her face from her book. “Looking for something?”  
  
The thundering feet slowed to a stop. “Of course I am. I’m always looking for something.” She growled. “I lost the damn cat, again!”  
  
Rolling her eyes, Charlie took note of her page, closed the book, and tucked it under her arm. None of those actions bothered the cat perched on her shoulder; when she eventually grabbed the cat lightly around its ribcage and awkwardly lifted it from its place, it meowed softly in lazy protest. She pacified her by scratching lightly behind her ears. “You need to learn a location spell.”  
  
Almost embarrassed, Jo stalked over to Charlie and plucked the cat out of her arms. The cat squirmed in Jo’s grasp until her claws met Jo’s robes and wrists. Jo let go with a loud curse and the cat scampered away. “Get back here,” she called out, taking off at a run.  
  
\---  
  
October Third Year  
  
\---  
  
“So get this-”  
  
“No one wants to know why the candles float, dork.” Jo waved Sam’s new fun fact away for the fifth time that evening. Each time there was a lull in the conversation, he’d try again to no avail.  
  
Sam rolled his eyes and bitchfaced into his pumpkin soup, the first of their multifaceted Halloween feast. “It’s not like we were talking about anything else.”  
  
Spinning on the bench, Jo’s elbow almost knocked over her china full of hot orange puree. “Quick, think of something to talk about.” She reached out a hand and pushed lightly at Charlie’s shoulder.  
  
Charlie, who had been paying all of her attention to her soup, spluttered a little. “Do you want to talk about the 72% you got on your latest potions test? Oh, how about the 7 out of 10 you got on the latest herbology quiz?” She grinned, flipping her hair over her shoulder.  
  
Grumbling, Jo turned back to her soup. Sam grinned on the other side of her.  
  
A beat of silence passed before Sam leaned forward to speak around Jo. “So, do you want to come over during Christmas break? I mean, I’m sure my Dad wouldn’t mind; he hardly cares what we do most of the time.” He began to spoon more soup to his mouth; he got sidetracked by another thought. “Also, we can use the computer and look at all the Youtube videos that we’ve missed. I’m sure that they’ll be coming out with the ‘Best Videos of the Year’ mixes about that time.” His face was split in a wide grin.  
  
It brought out a very similar grin on Charlie’s face. “That sounds like fun. Yeah, I’ll have to ask Frank.” Frank was a distant squib relative of Charlie’s. He did a lot with computers and was pretty cool when you could get him to pay attention to you. Charlie’s parents had died in a car crash when she was young and Frank took her in. He was a good parental figure when she could pull him away from his computers and paranoia, otherwise she took care of herself, read books, and fiddled with her own computers.  
  
Jo’s spoon clattered to the table. “I thought you were gonna come to my house like every other year.” He face took on a hurt expression; her eyes darkened and her eyebrows tilted up above her nose.  
  
Caught surprised, Charlie looked at Jo confused. “I’ll still see you. I mean, I’m sure that we’ll all get together for Christmas Eve and Day.” She grinned, having remedied the problem.  
  
But Jo still looked upset. “That’s not the same.”  
  
“Oh come on, Jo, let me invite her over for once. You’ve got a three year lead on me.” Sam elbowed Jo’s ribs good-naturedly, before turning back to his food.  
  
Not sure what to say next, Charlie swallowed and turned back to her soup awkwardly. She pretended that she couldn’t feel Jo’s betrayed stare on her.  
  
Jo didn’t turn back to her soup until the house elves tried to take it away from her and didn’t try to speak again until Sam started, “So get this-”  
  
“Just shut it!”  
  
\---  
  
November Fourth Year  
  
\---  
  
Jo rushed into the room and threw open Sam’s four-poster drapes. “Get up, dumb ass.”  
  
Rousing awake, Sam turned and squinted at her. “How did you get in the Ravenclaw dorms?” He woke up a bit more. “How did you get in the boys’ dormitories?!?” His eyes grew wide and frantic.  
  
Only responding with a mischievous grin, Jo waggled an eyebrow, “Not doing anything that you shouldn’t, are you?”  
  
Sam blushed but got out of bed despite his practically cousin. “How did you get in here?”  
  
“Charlie.”  
  
Pulling on his jumper and socks, Sam rolled his eyes. “I mean in the boys’ dormitories.”  
  
Jo shrugged. “Charlie.” He pointed at him and winked. “If you ask a Ravenclaw the right questions, they solve your problem.” She turned and marched to the door. “Now, come on, we’ve got to get to the Quidditch field so we can play in the scrimmage. I won’t be late.”  
  
Plopping back onto the bed, Sam pulled on his socks. “I mean, it can’t be that late. I set the alarm for six.”  
  
“Well, it must not have worked; it’s nine.” Jo crossed her arms over her chest. It was difficult to do with all of her Quidditch gear on; she was a beater and had extra padded guards since her position was to fly at the bludgers. “Even Cas was up before you.” That was quite a jab since Jo often had to let Dean into Gryffindor rooms to wake up Cas on any day without classes. Cas could probably sleep through the entire weekend if Dean didn’t wake him.  
  
The really problematic days were when Jo would let Dean into Gryffindor tower and he and Cas would both hole up in the dormitory for the day. Both Jo and Sam shuddered at the shared train of thought.  
  
Trying to shake the image of Cas and Dean doing… that… Jo tried to think of something, anything. Of course, one of the things that most troubled her these days would come to mind. “So, Sam, do you like anyone?”  
  
“What do you mean?” Sam was strapping on his shin guards.  
  
She leaned in the door way and tried to act nonchalant. “You know, girls, guys, text books; do you like anyone?”  
  
Sam fastened his Quidditch cape and stood from the bed. As a chaser he didn’t have as much extra gear. Dean always took a lot more time since he was a keeper and wore a bunch of extra padding and armor. “What do you mean?” Sam asked, putting all of this things back into his trunk and making his bed, like a true nerd.  
  
Unlike Sam’s OCD, Charlie’s bunk looked like the site of a confringo spell or two.  
  
Jo’s cheeks burned red as she explained. “You know, do you want to go out with anyone?” She rolled her eyes and swallowed hard.  
  
“Do you like anyone?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Then neither do I.” Sam strode from the room ready to set out for the pitch.  
  
“Sa-am,” Jo whined. She followed and whatever spell she had used to get up to the boys’ dorms had worn off so the stairs turned into a slide. They slid into an ugly pile of tangled limbs and Quidditch capes at the bottom.  
  
Chuckling rang out above them. “And that, Jo, Is why I didn’t go upstairs with you.” She waved and left them where they were.  
  
Sam struggled for a moment before he looked over to see Jo who had remained completely still. She was watching Charlie walk away, the light blush still coating her cheeks and her features gone soft. Sam waited until the Ravenclaw door closed behind Charlie before beginning to tease her. “You like Charlie. You like a red-head.”  
  
“Shut it!” She cried, suddenly very determined to untangle herself from her cousin.  
  
Not helping yet, Sam scrunched up his nose. “You like a ravenclaw?”  
  
“There’s nothing wrong with liking Ravenclaws!”  
  
“I’m a Ravenclaw.”  
  
“Well, I don’t like you. And you’re not acting like it. You’d think you’d be smart enough to help me with this.” Jo gestured to their current predicament.  
  
Jumpstarted, Sam worked at ridding himself of his cousin. With both of them working, they were easily separated.  
  
Running even later now, they took off at a brisk walk.  
  
Sam grinned. “So, Charlie?”  
  
“I said shut up!”  
  
\---  
  
December Fifth Year  
  
\---  
  
Charlie and Jo sat across from each other on the train heading back for vacation. It was a little awkward in the cabin. Sam didn’t seem to notice; his nose was pressed deep into the spin of his OWLs level Potions textbook.  
  
Every once in a while he would announce something cool that he found.  
  
“So get this, while a Strengthening Solution is supposed to be turquoise, there are reports of a darker, almost blue version that seem to work even better. This blue version endows the drinker with the ability to lift an elephant while those that drink the turquoise solution can only lift as much as an elephant calf.”  
  
Charlie’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why did these people have elephants on hand?”  
  
They lapsed into silence. Sam spent a second or two considering Charlie’s question before returning to the text. The rock of the train seeming to lull them back into the same tense space they had been occupying the rest of the trip.  
  
“So get this, the Invigoration Draught can boost energy, but, when brewed improperly, it can give way to quite the opposite. If the brew is tampered with in 7 different known ways, it actually puts the drinker to sleep.”  
  
Jo huffed. “That potion has nothing on you.”  
  
Even more silence followed.  
  
In a huff, Jo stood. “I’m going to go find the sweets lady and get something to munch on.” He stomped a little to the door. With her hand on the door handle, she paused. “Does anyone want anything?” He head cocked a little so her ear was pointed more toward Charlie.  
  
Charlie shook her head, lips pressed together in a line.  
  
“Well, Charlie doesn’t want anything, but I’ll take a few chocolate frogs.” Sam provided in the silence.  
  
Jo slid the door open in a rush. “You can get your own chocolate frogs, Sam!” Her ears were red and her eyes stayed glued to the ground as she stepped out of the cabin.  
  
“I’ll pay you back,” he called. The door slammed on the last half of his yell, though. He shrugged. “I might get something; I might not.” He blew out a breath and turned to Charlie, sitting next to him and staring out the window. “So, explain to me why this is the most awkward train ride ever.”  
  
Charlie winced. “You noticed?”  
  
Rolling his eyes, Sam gestured around the room. “It’s kind of hard to miss. I feel like one of those elephants is sitting in the middle of this train car.”  
  
She laughed a little, which was the point of it. “It’s just,” she blew out a breath, “it’s weird now.”  
  
“Why is that?” Sam reached to his book and placed a ripped piece of parchment between the pages. It was a little piece with a note from Jessica Moore, a Hufflepuff like Dean was. She was definitely something and Sam was hoping that he might get to ask her to Hogsmeade the following year. Of course, a lot could change between then and now. Mostly, he was hoping to be taller than her in a year.  
  
Charlie shifted on the seat which seemed to demand his attention. “I told her that I was gay.”  
  
“And?” Sam raised an eyebrow.  
  
“And I don’t know. We haven’t really talked since.” Charlie wrung her hands in her lap.  
  
Wincing in anticipation, Sam asked what he knew would be a disheartening question. “Are you still going with her over break?”  
  
Charlie’s head flopped forward and she caught it in her hands, elbows propped on her knees. “I don’t know.”  
  
Nodding, Sam swallowed. “Well, you’re always welcome to come with us. I’m going out to spend the time with Dean and Cas; they have a decent flat in the Muggle world. I mean, they live close enough to a magic community that there are quite a few straggles around them. Rufus is over there and, uhm, I think the Trentons live in that area.” A beat passed. “Nevermind, that may be more of a downside.” Sam bit his lip to stop his babbling.  
  
Cole Trenton was a thick-headed second year who made himself a name when he called Dean out for a one-on-one Quidditch match the year before. Dean tried to go easy since he was a seventh year and Cole was a first year, but it hadn’t ended well since Cole had continued to insist. To that day, no one really knew why he had picked a fight with Dean.  
  
Sam sighed. He knew that Jo had a crush on Charlie. He also knew that as brave as Jo was; she could be as emotionally stunted as Castiel Novak. It took Castiel almost 6 years just to realize that Dean was bi. Sam still joked him about his obliviousness.  
  
If anything, Sam would have thought that Jo would be over the moon with the information, but Jo was anything but rational.  
  
He patted Charlie’s shoulder. “I’m sure everything will work itself out.”  
  
Charlie shook her head where it was cradled into her palms, her hair sweeping around her in a fiery, deflated halo.  
  
They both looked up when the door slid open. Jo threw two chocolate frogs at Sam, shutting the door behind her. Crossing the cabin, she put a small pumpkin pasty in Charlie’s lap before flopping down on the bench across from them. She opened her bertie bott’s absently and looked out the window.  
  
Taking in the treat she was given, Charlie sighed a little before letting a small smile grace her features. She lifted it with careful fingers and took a bite with the other hand she tucked her hair back behind her ear.  
  
Jo turned her head enough to smile back.  
  
Relaxing back, Sam knew they would be just fine soon enough. Who would have guessed that Sam pouncing around their train car after a loose chocolate frog would break the tension all at once?  
  
\---  
  
January Sixth Year  
  
\---  
  
“You got a what?!?” Charlie’s mouth hung open in complete shock.  
  
Jo was smiling in a way that put her face at risk for snapping in half. “I know right!” She was almost vibrating with excitement. “Do you want to see?”  
  
Eyes bugging even more, Charlie spluttered, “Of course I want to see.” She licked her lips a little and shifted her butt further forward on the couch, giddy.  
  
Jo rucked up her shirt and turned so that Charlie could see her side. There, over her lats, was a magical tattoo. Like wizarding world photos, wizarding world tattoos moved. She had a large thestral tattooed there. It cantered a bit and shook his head.  
  
“Woah.” Automatically, Charlie reached out and ran her fingers over the work. It was breathtaking. “Was your mother okay with this?”  
  
Relieved that Charlie didn’t look away from the tattoo, Jo blushed. She cleared her throat where it had gone dry. “Yeah, I’ve wanted one for years and this Christmas she took me to get it. It was my gift.”  
  
Charlie leaned back, face spread wide in admiration. “Wow. What did Bobby have to say?”  
  
“Well, he asked me why I was getting one.”  
  
“Okay, and?”  
  
“And, I told him that it was in honor of my father. I’ve been able to see thestrals since I was really little and I thought it was a good way to honor him.” She shrugged and let go of her shirt. She swallowed and looked away.  
  
Scooting over until she was practically in Jo’s lap, Charlie wrapped her arms around her. “That’s beautiful and nothing to be ashamed of.” They sat like that for a long moment, Charlie snuggling into her friend and Jo soaking it all up. “Now, the million dollar question,” she leaned back to look Jo in the face, “did it hurt?”  
  
Jo burst out laughing. “Yeah, a bit, I guess.” She shrugged. “I was fine though.” She nodded and put on a smirk.  
  
Joining in, Charlie nodded a little in response, skeptical, before laughing as well.  
  
“Enough about me.” Jo turned and folded her elbow against the top of the sofa, resting her head on her closed fist. “How was the internship over Christmas break?”  
  
“You’ll just say it sounds boring.” Charlie said trying to push the subject away.  
  
Jo latched on though. “If it were Sam? Yeah, but this is you. You can’t make anything sound boring.” She smiled bright and encouraging.  
  
“I just did a bunch of code-breaking. Really, it wasn’t all Indiana Jones like you’re hoping.” Charlie huffed a laughed.  
  
Jo’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What’s Indiana Jones? Is it a muggle thing or a History of Magic thing?”  
  
Biting her lip to keep from performing the usual whine that accompanied Charlie realizing that someone didn’t know what something was, she trained her features to keep the moment mature. “Muggle thing.”  
  
“Does Sam know about it?” Jo narrowed her eyes.  
  
“Like, every muggle knows about it. I promise to show you sometime.” She reached over and patter her friend’s hand reassuringly, one of the many gestures that made people wonder if they were a couple or just friends.  
  
Or the way that Charlie’s legs were still strewn over Jo’s thighs. Or the way that Jo’s attention span seemed to lengthen when Charlie was talking even though she struggled to pay attention in class each day.  
  
The moment seemed to pass over them both, cataloged only by the way that their eyes were glued together.  
  
“So, Christmas presents?” Charlie raised her eyebrows and patted her hands against the cushion on either side of her hips, ending the previous moment succinctly.  
  
Nodding, Jo reached behind the sofa to the table there and picked the bag up from next to her stepfather’s vase. They never used to have pretty and breakable things in the Harvelle house. In fact, the prettiest and most breakable things were probably the Harvelles themselves, though they’d both tell you that they weren’t very breakable or pretty. When Bobby moved in, he brought with him a lot of knick-knacks and trinkets and fragile things.  
  
Jo hugged the gift to her chest. “You first.”  
  
Rolling her eyes, Charlie turned and bent to get the wrapped box from where it sat on the rug. She thrust it into Jo’s hands. “Hope you like it.”  
  
Impatiently, Jo tore at the wrapping and peeled the packing tape from the cardboard box. Her lips made an ‘o’ as she looked over its contents. First, there was about 8 boxes of bertie bott’s. Second, there was a picture frame that Charlie had obviously made; it said ‘I Gryffin-ADORE You’ and had a muggle photo from back in first or second year in it. Lastly, there was a thing-a-ma-jig and that was about all Jo could tell from looking at it.  
  
She picked it up carefully and turned it over in her hands. “What is it?”  
  
Charlie smiled. “It’s a game I made for you while I had free time at my internship.” She plucked it from her hands. “This is a puzzle box and here,” she turned it and pointed to a line of wheels with letters, “is where you have to enter the code to open it.” She handed it back.  
  
Grimacing at it, Jo tried to force it open by pulling on the lid. “I could probably just magic it open, right?”  
  
Charlie shook her head smiling from ear-to-ear. “I cursed it like I had to curse and un-curse everything at the internship. You can only open it with the code.”  
  
Throwing her head back, Jo huffed. “This feels a lot like homework.”  
  
“It’s not though, I swear.”  
  
“How will I guess the code?”  
  
“I left you a decoder ring and a hint.” Charlie pointed into the box again. “I promise that it’s easier than you think.” When Jo only turned narrowed eyes on her, Charlie smacked her upper arm lightly. “Hey, it’s a challenge; you like challenges.”  
  
“But this is a brainy challenge,” she whined.  
  
Charlie rolled her eyes. “Whatever, I guess you just won’t get to have whatever is inside.”  
  
“Inside?” That piqued Jo’s interest all over again. She grappled for the thing-a-ma-jig and shook it next to her ear.  
  
Taking up the responsible role like she often did, Charlie tucked all of Jo’s gift back into the box and leaned over to place it on the table. She then plucked the puzzle box from Jo’s hand and put it next to it. “Now, my turn.” She kept the straight face for a moment before it split into an expression akin to a small child receiving her favorite blanket back from the dryer. She reached out her hands and made grabby fingers.  
  
Jo let go of the gift and passed it on. “It doesn’t have as many pieces as yours.” She sounded almost embarrassed by that, which was completely silly.  
  
Removing the tissue from the top of the gift bag, Charlie looked inside. Just like Jo, she received some of her favorite sweets and next to it was an envelope. Before touching the envelope, she popped a pasty into her mouth and hummed with chipmunk cheeks.  
  
She tore open the envelope and pulled out a slip of paper. “Is this a gift certificate?”  
  
“Uhm, yeah. It’s for the tattoo place that I got mine at.”  
  
“Seriously?” Charlie looked over the slip. “What would I get a tattoo of? Arithmancy? Runes?” She giggled a little thinking that Jo would join her.  
  
Instead, Jo remained surprisingly somber. “Actually, when I got my tattoo, I realized how much better I felt. It’s for my dad and all, and it kinda feels like he’s with me again, now.” She licked her lips and looked up to a shocked, wondering, and a little pitying expression balanced in Charlie’s features. “I thought maybe you might want something to remember your parents.” She shrugged, trying to lessen the emotion in the moment.  
  
“That’s beautiful.” Charlie gripped the certificate hard enough that it wrinkled and her wet eyes gave way to tears. “Thank you so much.” After a pause, she careened forward burrowing her teary face in Jo’s front. “Thank you so, so much.” She repeated, shaking her head into Jo’s sweater.  
  
Jo’s hands came up to cradle her head and shoulders. “Of course.” She rubbed at her shoulder blades.  
  
After Charlie’s shuddering had quieted, she pulled away. She sniffed and wipe at her eyes. “How much did this cost though? Really?” She looked down at the half ruined certificate; it even sported tear stains.  
  
“It was some guy that Dean knew, Benny or something.” Jo waved her hand in dismissal. “He gave it to me half-price.”  
  
Charlie cocked her head to the side. “’Some guy’ are Dean and Cas not together anymore?”  
  
“What?!? Of course they are; why would you ask that?”  
  
“Well, Dean is seeing some other guy; I just wondered-”  
  
Jo tapped Charlie’s forehead, succinctly muting her. “Shut that off. Dean and Cas are fine. Dean would never do something like that. Neither would Cas for that matter. They are allowed to have friends and still be together.”  
  
Agreeing, Charlie nodded. “And be friends and be together.”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
A charged moment passed when neither of them even breathed. Charlie was the first to move.  
  
She slid her hand from where she had been holding onto Jo’s shirt to Jo’s wrist. When Jo didn’t protest, she slid it into Jo’s hand, lining up their palms before threading together their fingers.  
  
Charlie breathed heavy twice before snapping her eyes shut.  
  
Finding her voice, low and heavy in her throat, Jo spoke, “That was pretty brave of you.”  
  
“Yeah, well, that’s about at brave as I can be.” Charlie’s words rushed out quickly and she sucked in another breath right after.  
  
Jo licked her lips and looked over Charlie’s face. “How about I be brave for both of us?”  
  
Nodding, Charlie whispered, “Okay.”  
  
That was when Jo leaned in and kissed her. It was chaste and warm and their legs were as tangled at their fingers. Jo tasted like hot cocoa and Charlie tasted mostly like French vanilla coffee. It was soft except that Charlie’s lips were chapped and felt rugged against Jo’s since her mother was always on her case about using chapstick.  
  
They pulled away from their first kiss and Charlie kept her eyes closed longer than was strictly necessary. “Merry Christmas,” she practically breathed onto Jo’s lips.  
  
“Merry Christmas.”  
  
Charlie’s eyes snapped open quick enough that it almost startled Jo with their speed and proximity. “I hope you’ve got a lot of bravery.”  
  
“Why?” Jo was a little worried.  
  
“Because you just promised to be brave for both of us and I’m about to get a tattoo.” Charlie delivered with a straight face.  
  
They both laughed.  
  
\---  
  
Epilogue Seventh Year  
  
\---  
  
While they weren’t a couple who was always perfect, they did seem to make it through their upper levels and brutal Quidditch matches. It was pretty easy to do, since they were braving it together.


End file.
